Alex Harvey (director)

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Alex Harvey
Born
Denver, Colorado, United States
EducationBA in directing and ethnomusicology
Alma materNorthwestern University
Occupations
  • Film director
  • theater director
  • writer
  • producer
  • musician
Years active2003–present

Alex Harvey is an American filmmaker, theater director, writer, producer, and musician based in Cortlandt, New York. He has directed several films, including Walden: Life in the Woods which screened at numerous festivals in 2017 and 2018 and was released on digital platforms in October 2019. He has also directed numerous regional theater productions including Underneath the Lintel and I Am My Own Wife. Harvey also played mandolin in GEICO's nationwide "Happier than" ad campaign.

Early life and education[edit]

Alex Harvey was born and raised in Denver, Colorado.[1] He attended Graland Country Day School there as a child and East High School as a teenager.[2] He ultimately graduated high school from Colorado Academy[1] in 1999.[3] Growing up, he acted in numerous high school[1] and community theater productions.[2] After high school, he attended Northwestern University, earning degrees in directing and ethnomusicology.[1] He also directed stage productions while at Northwestern.[4]

Career[edit]

Theatre director[edit]

One of Harvey's first professional stage credits after graduating from Northwestern was as the director of General Desdemona, which was staged during the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2004.[5] Harvey later relocated to New York City. In 2007, he directed a production of I Am My Own Wife which was staged in both Des Moines, Iowa (at the Civic Center of Greater Des Moines)[6] and Houston, Texas (at the Stages Repertory Theatre).[7] This would lead to him directing several other plays in the Houston area in 2008, including Underneath the Lintel (Alley Theatre)[8] and Mr. Marmalade (Stages).[9]

In 2009, when Harvey was the artist-in-residence at the University of California, Berkeley's Arts Research Center, he co-wrote an operatic adaptation of Michael Pollan's 2001 book, The Botany of Desire. He worked with both Pollan and fellow artist-in-residence John Gromada to devise the musical.[10] A reading of the adaptation was performed at Berkeley in April 2009.[11] In March 2010, Harvey directed the students of the American Conservatory Theater's MFA program in a production of O Lovely Glowworm, or Scenes of Great Beauty at San Francisco's Zeum Theater.[12]

In January 2011,[13] Harvey returned to the Stages Repertory Theater in Houston where he directed a production of Oh, the Humanity.[14] Later that year, he co-directed (with Melissa Kievman and Brian Mertes) a production of Balm in Gilead, which was staged for one night in an empty warehouse in Industry City in Brooklyn's Sunset Park neighborhood.[15]

In August 2013, Harvey directed Waiting for Waiting for Godot which was staged during the New York International Fringe Festival.[16] It went on to be honored with the Overall Excellence Award by the festival[17] and was given a brief extended run of three nights the following month.[18] Throughout this time,[1] Harvey taught at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts,[2] directing and writing productions for graduate students including stagings of an adaptation of Vladimir Nabokov's Pale Fire[19] and an adaptation of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt called Peer@Me.[20]

Musician[edit]

Beginning in 2012, Harvey started appearing in a variety of GEICO insurance ads for the nationwide "Happier than" campaign in which he played the mandolin.[1] He would later appear as the featured mandolin and tenor guitar player on the Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle album, North of Houston (2014),[21] and other subsequent recordings.[22]

Filmmaker[edit]

In 2016, Harvey began filming for Walden: Life in the Woods supported in part by an incentive grant from the Colorado Economic Development Commission.[23] Walden is loosely based on the Henry David Thoreau book of the same name. Harvey had been devising the film with a group of other Colorado natives as far back as 2009.[2] Demián Bichir and T.J. Miller were added to the cast in August 2016.[24] The film was shot and set entirely in Colorado and had its premiere at the Denver Film Festival in November 2017.[2] It went on to appear at numerous film festivals in 2017 and 2018 including the Whistler Film Festival,[25] RiverRun International Film Festival,[26] and Oaxaca FilmFest.[27] It received a wide release on various digital platforms in October 2019.[28]

Harvey also co-directed[29] (with director Brian Mertes) the film, I Am a Seagull,[30] a hybrid narrative film and documentary[31] that follows the Lake Lucille Chekhov Project as it stages its annual production of Anton Chekhov's The Seagull. It premiered in March 2018 in New York City.[30] Harvey also directed a black-and-white silent film called, The Unsilent Picture, which stars Bill Irwin. It was screened throughout October 2018 in a tent theater at the Philipsburg Manor in Sleepy Hollow, New York, and each showing was accompanied by a live soundtrack.[32]

Credits[edit]

Film[edit]

Year Title Role Notes
2017 Walden: Life in the Woods Director Wide release in October 2019
2018 I Am a Seagull Co-director, creative producer
The Unsilent Picture Director Silent film

Theatre[edit]

Year Title Role Dates Venue Notes
2004 General Desdemona Director August 9–27, 2004 Rocket@DeMarco Roxy Art House Edinburgh Festival Fringe
2006 The Bird and Mr. Banks Director ? - May 13, 2006 Live Bait Theatre (Chicago) World Premiere play by Keith Huff
2007 I Am My Own Wife Director March 23 – April 7, 2007 Civic Center of Greater Des Moines Regional; StageWest Theatre Company
April 13 – May 10, 2007 Stages Repertory Theatre (Houston) Regional
2008 Underneath the Lintel Director March 21 – April 20, 2008 Alley Theatre (Houston) Regional
Mr. Marmalade Director May 16 – June 1, 2008 Stages Repertory Theatre Regional
2009 The Botany of Desire Co-writer April 24, 2009 Wheeler Auditorium (University of California, Berkeley) Reading of a musical adaptation
2010 O Lovely Glowworm, or Scenes of Great Beauty Director March 4–20, 2010 Zeum Theatre (San Francisco) American Conservatory Theater MFA program
2011 Oh, the Humanity Director January 26 – February 20, 2011 Stages Repertory Theatre Regional
Balm in Gilead Co-director June 5, 2011 Warehouse in Industry City, Sunset Park, Brooklyn
2013 Waiting for Waiting for Godot Director August 21–25, 2013 The Kraine Theater New York International Fringe Festival
September 14–16, 2013 The Players Theatre

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c d e f Husted, Bill (February 27, 2013). "How happy is ubiquitous Geico commercial star Alex Harvey? Happier than a witch in a broom factory". The Denver Post. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  2. ^ a b c d e Moore, John (November 5, 2017). "How a local film crew moved Walden Pond to the Colorado mountains". Denver Center for the Performing Arts. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  3. ^ Burleigh, Sue (November 4, 2017). "Alex Harvey '99". Colorado Academy. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  4. ^ Berenato, Thomas (May 13, 2013). "With Brit wit, lunacy rules the upper class". The Daily Northwestern. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  5. ^ Austin, Jeremy (August 23, 2004). "General Desdemona review at RocketDemarco Roxy Art House". The Stage. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  6. ^ "StageWest welcomes Drake alumnus in special production". Drake University. March 6, 2007. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  7. ^ Williams, Lee (April 26, 2007). "I Am My Own Wife". Houston Press. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  8. ^ Evans, Everett (March 27, 2008). "Review: Alley stalwart tells Lintel's too-tall tale with flair". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  9. ^ Williams, Lee (May 21, 2008). "Mr. Marmalade Is Child's Play While Bright Lights, Big City Is A Musical Misstep". Houston Press. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  10. ^ Abney, Andrea (April 23, 2009). "'The Botany of Desire': A plant-passion musical". San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  11. ^ Bergman, Barry (May 1, 2009). "Transplanted to a bare Wheeler stage, Botany of Desire blooms as a musical". Berkleyan. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  12. ^ Peter, Thomas (February 18, 2010). "A.C.T. Students Will Go Magical with Berger's O Lovely Glowworm". Playbill. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  13. ^ DeMers, John (January 29, 2011). "Our Review of Stages' 'Oh, the Humanity'". Houston Arts Week. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  14. ^ Theis, David (February 9, 2011). "Oh The Humanity". Houston Press. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  15. ^ Fleischmann, Stephanie (July 2011). "Balm in Brooklyn: A Case Study". The Brooklyn Rail. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  16. ^ Gates, Anita (August 23, 2013). "New York Fringe Festival Report: 'Waiting for Waiting for Godot'". The New York Times. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  17. ^ "New York Fringe Festival Overall Excellence Award Winners 2013". New York Theater. August 26, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  18. ^ "Fringe Encores 2013, for New York Fringe Shows You Missed". New York Theater. September 1, 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  19. ^ "Pales Fires (Shade Room)". New York University Tisch School of the Arts. 2013. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  20. ^ "Peer@Me". New York University Tisch School of the Arts. 2015. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  21. ^ Swenson, John (October 1, 2014). "Michael Cerveris & Loose Cattle, North of Houston (Broadway Records)". OffBeat. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  22. ^ D'Arcangelo, Sam (June 5, 2017). "Premiere: Loose Cattle offers a country-tinged interpretation of "St. James Infirmary"". OffBeat. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  23. ^ "Colorado OKs $14.3 million for 805 jobs and baits trap for Bigfoot film". The Denver Post. May 19, 2016. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  24. ^ Hipes, Patrick (August 30, 2016). "'Ordinary World' Gets Fall Release Date; 'Walden' Adds Demián Bichir & T.J. Miller". Deadline Hollywood. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  25. ^ Whyte, Jason (December 1, 2018). "Whistler Film Festival 2018 Interview: WALDEN LIFE IN THE WOODS director Alex Harvey". Get Reel Movies. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  26. ^ "Walden: Life in the Woods". RiverRun International Film Festival. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  27. ^ "Oaxaca FilmFest 2018". Que Pasa Oaxaca. October 7, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  28. ^ Bear, John (October 2, 2019). "Colorado-Made Walden: Life in the Woods Dropped on Digital This Week". Westword. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  29. ^ "The Chekhov Project". Noorderzon Performing Arts Festival. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  30. ^ a b Cox, Gordon (March 7, 2018). "'I Am a Seagull' Highlights Starry, but Little-Known Annual Production of Chekhov Plays". Variety. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  31. ^ "Chekhov Project Film, I AM A SEAGULL, Will Get NYC Screening on 3/2". Broadway World. February 21, 2018. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
  32. ^ Kramer, Peter D. (October 8, 2018). "Bill Irwin, master of mime, leads 'The Unsilent Picture' at Historic Hudson Valley". The Journal News. Retrieved October 2, 2019.
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